Puddle Jumping(10)

“Would you mind if I picked Colton up for school in the morning? I can bring him home, too, if that’s okay with you.”

I swear on a stack of Bibles, her eyes got so wide I thought she was going to have a stroke.

“Really?”

“Yeah, really. He has a class with me and stuff, so I figured we could ride together and his locker is next to mine and then he wouldn’t have to be dropped off and picked up . . .”

She held a hand up to stop me and for a moment I thought she had tears in her eyes. “Absolutely.”

“Awesome.” It was like I could finally, finally breathe again. I was going to take care of Colton this time, not the other way around.

“He has a class tomorrow at the community college. Can you take him?” She looked so hopeful.

“Sure. Should I . . . sit in?” I couldn’t remember if it was called shadowing or auditing or whatever, but neither of them sounded cool so I didn’t push it.

Her voice . . . it got so low. “It’s a socialization class to help him acclimate. You know, he wanted to do this on his own. He asked to come to school, but he doesn’t have to be here.” Her eyes actually did get shiny then. “He just wants friends.”

“Don’t worry, Mrs. Neely. He’s already got one in me,” I assured her and then leaned in a little to say goodbye to Colton. He nodded a couple times and they drove away, leaving me with a thousand questions.

It felt like everything that transpired on the day he started school was what I needed to prove to myself I should find out what I’d been putting off for years.

It finally felt like the right time to give in and find out everything I could about it.

I drove home immediately and Googled the shit out of Asperger’s.

Holy hell. The amount of information available is so extensive. I couldn’t tell which end was up. While he had some of the qualities and characteristics listed on the spectrum, he didn’t seem to have all of them, and honestly, it just got to be pretty exhausting and confusing after a while. It made me want to lay my head down and cry because he was a complete mystery to me.

My research showed socialization was the hardest thing for someone like him to ‘get’. Which made his after school class seem all the more necessary, obviously. But how could I help? At the time, I didn’t think pushing him into school activities would be the right key.

What if he became over stimulated?

Would he freak out and have to leave?

Would he be absolutely fine and I was a total douche for thinking so many stupid questions?

Sometimes Googling things make it worse.

One thing was certain: I would do whatever it took to be what he needed me to be. He was worth it even after only one day.

* * *

About an hour before bed, I realized I had left my phone on silent and checked it to see about a million missed phone calls from Harper and Joseph. I was irritated to say the least. Harper would take a text, I knew. But Joseph was another matter altogether.

Calling him proved to be the second best thing I’d done that day. The conversation went a little like this:

“Hey. I missed your calls?”

“Yeah. The hell were you doing with that Neely kid? Everyone saw it. They’re all talking about you . . .”

I won’t go into the specifics of what exactly was said, because it’s . . . just . . . not important what people said about Colton or what they called him or categorized him as. But let’s just say it was ignorant enough to warrant a kiss off of epic proportions.

In essence, I told Joseph he could kiss my ass.

We broke up. Over the phone. And it didn’t bother me for a minute. Then my cell blew up with more texts from Harper.

I’ll say it again: News travels fast.

But none of it mattered. Because I was finally seeing a little glimpse of who Colton was.

I slept well that night, knowing I’d be picking him up for school in the morning. Single.

The first time I picked Colton up for school, I got up early to put on a little more makeup. I straightened my hair a little extra. And I wore a skirt.

What can I say? My legs are impressive.

See, it wasn’t that I had started out with the intention of having something more with him. It was like it was ingrained in me, somehow. He brought out this very basic desire in me to be a girl. A better girl. One who could hold the attentions of someone like him. So, it wasn’t like I was thinking to go out of my way to do those things that morning, I just kind of did them because I wanted to.

Just because I was attracted to him didn’t mean our friendship had to suffer. It was what would come first, regardless of my feelings.

I met Mrs. Neely at the door and I swear to you she took one look at my glossy lips and bare knees and the woman just knew. Moms are creepy like that sometimes. But I played it off and she pointed me to the room above the garage where Colton was rearranging some pieces.

It had been a while since I’d seen his stuff up close and it took my breath away at how far he’d come since the time I saw the paintings at the fair. Compliments tripped out of my mouth as I looked them over but he didn’t seem like they really mattered. In fact, it wasn’t until I mentioned a canvas that was broken in half and twisted in the corner of the room that he even really responded to me at all.

“What happened?” It just looked mangled.

Colton glanced at it and sighed, looking away again as he finished packing his book bag. “I was upset when I couldn’t get the eyes right.”